


Hell to Heaven in Seven Minutes

by rebel_ren



Series: Drabbles Against Despair [18]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Seven Minutes In Heaven Game, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23506711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_ren/pseuds/rebel_ren
Summary: Alec might be stuck in a closet with a cute boy, but he's really not sure how this is supposed to be heaven. It feels more like misery in slow motion right now.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Drabbles Against Despair [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666300
Comments: 11
Kudos: 96





	Hell to Heaven in Seven Minutes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmudleyKAM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmudleyKAM/gifts).



> Prompt (#22 on [this list](https://www.thoughtco.com/quick-writing-prompts-1692438)): "Then the lights went out."
> 
> I have never actually played this game, so... please excuse any inaccuracies? LOL.
> 
> My friend Kaye has been on my mind this weekend, so this one's for you, beautiful! <3

It’s fine, Alec tells himself. It’s all gonna be fine. It’s just, like. Seven minutes. That’s… four hundred twenty seconds. That’s all. That’s just counting to four hundred twenty.

He can do this.

He rubs his sweaty palms on his jeans and smiles nervously at the other person crammed in this closet with him.

Magnus is a nice boy. A… really good looking boy, not that Alec has been noticing. (Alec has definitely been noticing.)

But right now, he’s the scariest boy in the world. Not only is Magnus nice _and_ goodlooking, he also hadn’t had any objection to being picked with another boy for this round of Seven Minutes in Heaven.

Which… might mean they have something in common.

But still, Alec doesn’t know what to do with himself. He smiles sheepishly at Magnus and wonders if it’s too soon to wipe his palms again. How did they get sweaty again so fast?

Magnus smiles back at Alec. “Hey,” he says softly. “It’s okay. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.” He chuckles. “And if you just wanna stand here for seven minutes, it’ll be our secret.” He winks, which is somehow both cute and _really_ hot at the same time.

Alec takes a deep breath and relaxes a bit. “Yeah, that’s… that’d be good,” he says somewhat shakily, not sure how to say everything jumbled up in his throat that doesn’t seem to make it to his tongue.

_Thank you._

_I’ve never done this before._

_With anyone, but especially not with another guy._

_Especially not with someone I maybe_ **_wanted_ ** _to do this with…_

And then the lights go out. Alec’s muddled thoughts come to a screeching halt.

Everything is somehow different in the dark, like some things have come into focus and others no longer matter.

Their breaths sound so loud.

Can Magnus hear his heart beating? Alec wonders. Surely Magnus can. It sounds like an entire drum kit.

In a weird way, Alec is almost more aware of Magnus’ proximity than he had been before. He’s less distracted by Magnus’ long eyelashes, by the cool way he does his hair. But now, though they’re not actually touching anywhere, he can feel the heat of Magnus’ body.

He can smell Magnus, shampoo and soap and a hint of sweat, probably from riding his bike over here on this warm evening.

“Hey,” Magnus says quietly, and it’s almost startling to Alec after these moments immersed in his own thoughts.

Magnus moves. Alec can feel the air stirring with it. There seems to be some warmth near his hand for a second or two, but then Magnus pats his arm instead.

“Just breathe, okay?” Magnus says. “Nothing’s changed. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen in here is between us, and what that involves is completely up to you.”

“I’m… not very good at lying,” Alec mumbles, then squeezes his eyes shut, berating himself for sounding like an idiot.

Magnus laughs softly. “How about I kiss you on the cheek then?” he suggests easily. “That way if you say I kissed you, it will be true.”

“Umm… yeah, sure,” Alec says, struggling to get the words out because how does breathing work again?

He feels the press of lips against his cheek for just an instant.

It feels like an eternity before Alec can get his words to work again.

“What about you?” he asks at last.

“What about me?” Magnus asks. “Don’t worry about me. I can lie with the best of them.”

“But… what if I… want to?” Alec asks hesitantly.

It’s true what people say about being able to hear a smile. Alec can _hear_ Magnus smiling when he replies.

“If you want to, then you should definitely try it.”

Alec leans forward a little, then pauses. “Wait, I… I don’t know where your cheek is…” he says, panicking a little.

Magnus chuckles. “How about I turn my head?”

Alec senses movement. “Thank you,” he says, feeling awkward all over again, but he’d said he wanted to, and he _does,_ so he doesn’t let himself chicken out. He leans forward the rest of the way, brushing his lips lightly against Magnus’ cheek before pulling back.

“Thank you,” Magnus says softly, and he sounds like he means it, though Alec can’t imagine why.

“I’m sorry,” Alec says automatically, instinctively.

“For what?” Magnus asks.

“Just… being in here with _me…_ you didn’t have to…”

“I don’t mind,” Magnus says. “I like being in here with you…”

Alec’s heart feels like it’s beating out of his chest again.

“Magnus, I…” he says impulsively, then cuts himself off.

“Yes, Alec?” Magnus asks.

“Magnus, I…. I think that I… like guys…” Alec blurts out, then shakes his head. “I mean… I think I like _you…_ ”

“I like you too, Alec,” Magnus says, and Alec can hear that smile in his voice again.

“No, I mean… I _like_ like you,” Alec says, pushing on ahead with his thought now that he’s begun. And surely Magnus hadn’t understood him if _that_ had been Magnus’ response.

“Well, that’s good,” Magnus says, a hint of laughter underlying his words. “Because that’s what I meant too…”

“Wait, really?” Alec asks, shocked.

“I wouldn’t spend four hundred twenty seconds in a cramped space alone with just _anyone,_ Alec,” Magnus teases.

Alec’s still trying to pick his jaw up off the floor when the closet door opens, startling him with a flood of light. But when he looks at Magnus’ face, Magnus’ smile is more blinding by far.


End file.
